Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 2017, Advance online publication, 2 November 2017 (12 pages)

"Intimate partners commit approximately one in three homicides against women worldwide. Little is known about situational factors that contribute to intimate partner homicides (IPH) and how they may differ across nations. This article provides a cross-national exploration of one situational factor, the use of firearms in the commission of homicides, and considers whether nations have laws designed specifically to keep firearms out of the hands of batterers. We conducted a systematic search of peer-reviewed research and governmental and nongovernmental reports for data on weapon use in IPH. Data were located for 15 nations and subnational areas, which varied from firearms being involved in no IPHs in Fiji to 59% in Antalya, Turkey." (From the authors' abstract).

Data extracted from studies from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom (England and Wales), the United States, three Scandinavian countries, The Netherlands, Portugal, Israel, Ghana and a province in Turkey were selected in this review.

In New Zealand, data from the Family Violence Death Review Committee (2009-2012) identified 41 female and 11 male homicides. In male to female homicides (N=40), method used were identified as: guns, 17.5%; sharp force, 2.5%; other, 10%; blunt force, 2.5%; strangulation/suffocation, 7.5%; overkill, 60%. In incidents where a female victim kills a male aggressor (N=10), methods used were identified as: sharp force, 80%; guns, 10%; blunt force, 10%. In incidents where a female aggressor kills a victim (N=2), methods were identified as: blunt force, 50%; overkill, 50%. See Table 1 for data from the other 14 countries. Record #5691